Javago gives users the ability to determine the local coffee shop with the best availability and amenities at any given time in order to avoid wasting time and effort.

Problem/Solution:

How many times have you showed up to a coffee shop to study or work only to find it completely full? You are busy, and you simply don’t have time for unproductivity. And you certainly find it annoying that you have to use a trial and error approach in order to find a café that can accommodate you, which only wastes your time and effort. In a local poll, we found that 73% of coffee shop frequenters experienced this problem in the past three months in Athens.

Well, what if you didn’t have to do that anymore? And you could show up to a café knowing with almost complete certainty that there will be a table for you. That’s where we come in. Javago is an app that can compile and distribute that information about capacity to users for their local coffee shops, providing an incomparable service to those living a busy life in which they have no time to waste.

In order to gather the location data to determine each local coffee shop’s capacity at any given time, Javago will integrate Google Maps into its software to aggregate a reliable estimation of capacities throughout the locale in which the user resides.[1] It will perform just as any app when asking for users to approve access to location services, therefore it will not threaten any privacy. The location of the user will only be needed when they are participating in the service—i.e. looking for a café and spending time there. By using this strategy, we make it easier and mindless for a user to participate in and benefit from the service Javago provides.

Why now:

We live in the age of coffee—no joke. Coffee has its own trends, style and novelty. Coffee shops feature and specialize in these trends whether it be cold brew, draft lattes, nitro coffee, the list goes on and on. It not only wakes us up in the morning, but it energizes our afternoons. It caps off a perfect dinner. It is present in every facet of our life in one way or another. It offers the spark we need, the comfort we yearn for and the community we enjoy.

Cafes serve as third places—neither work/school nor home—that give customers the power to define the purpose.[2] This coffee culture drives people to spend more time in cafes as more people are basing their work from third places. Zagat reported in 2015 that 26% of people polled most often get their coffee from large national chains and an equally relatively whopping 22% get their coffee most often from small chains or independents.[3] Additionally, 41% of respondents suggested there is no problem with staying for two or more hours at a café. On top of that, college towns have an impossibly large market for coffee shops as students study and hang out. For example, Athens, GA—home to the University of Georgia—has over 15 coffee shops throughout the town. [4]

As our digital world expands and opportunities arise for people to work more remotely, the market is growing for cafes and giving a wider base of customers that spend hours each week at their establishments. Samsung reported that 69% of people work remotely from coffee shops at least twice a week.[5] This is the market environment that created the need for an app like Javago that will cater to these coffee shop users. We anticipate the desire of users to capitalize on every minute they have, whether it be to work, study or relax. We cater to the fast-paced landscape of the time and give a reliable source for real-time information. Javago provides a service that gives an ounce of constant in the swirling sea of digital output.

Audience:

Using demographic research,[6] we have compiled three user personas that characterize the Javago consumer. Additional resources for demographic data on the Javago customer was found using Simmons and MRI+.

Eleanor is a 20-year-old college student majoring in public relations and political science. She’s organized, studious, driven and likes to get her schoolwork done efficiently. She lives off campus in a house with two roommates, which distract her from getting all of her work done. But she doesn’t prefer going all the way back to campus to study. So she hits up one of the multiple coffee shops in town instead and hates when she enters only to find it at full capacity. She uses Javago to make sure she does not waste her scheduled study time trying to find a café that she can actually study at.

Marco is a 26-year-old app developer that splits his time between freelance coding projects and contributing to startups. He enjoys the freedom of controlling his own work flow, but sometimes finds it hard to prioritize and time manage his responsibilities since he works remotely. For this reason, he works better from his local coffee shops because it provides a space for his focus and work mindset. He uses Javago to check firstly his two favorite cafes, then his less ideal ones, to decide whether or not to schedule work time immediately or to postpone an hour or two to get into his favorite café.

Chad is a 33-year-old real estate broker who lives in a sprawling city that makes it inefficient to try to go back to his office across town while he is in between open houses or showings. As one of the top brokers in the city, he juggles a lot of clients and properties on a daily basis; therefore, he tries to squeeze a little work or emailing in whenever he can. He uses Javago to find the best place for him to work for a bit before heading off to his next meeting or showing. He also occasionally meets with a client in town, so he must be positive that there will be a table for them when they arrive.

Competitive advantage:

By being a network that informs its users in a market that has previously been left untouched, we intend to take advantage of this open market by moving quickly on our development and filling the niche before any competitors.

We will still be competing indirectly with social media apps that users will already spend their time on, as well as the Starbucks app as it is the most relevant to our market. A 2015 report found that people in the U.S. check their Facebook, Twitter, and other social media accounts a staggering 17 times a day, meaning at least once every waking hour, if not more.[7] Javago will need to be pertinent enough to draw these users to our app in order to generate enough daily traffic. While their other social media apps do not provide the same service, they do monopolize a majority of users’ time spent and storage space on their phone.

The Starbucks app allows users to pay digitally, access deals and exclusive offers, find stores locally and track what songs are playing in store.[8] None of these features allows users to check capacity, but the features give a sense of what other amenities users of Javago might like in the future. In early 2015, Starbucks reported that, on average, customers pay for a purchase using a smartphone 7 million times per week, with mobile payments now accounting for roughly 16% of total transactions.[9]

Prototype:

The prototype of Javago will showcase its modern, yet soothing design that
is reminiscent of the aesthetic of users’ favorite coffee shops. A user will download the app, sign up while providing some personal information, approve the use of location services for our Google Maps integration and begin exploring.

The map will show all coffee shops in the surrounding area, with the option for users to click on any location to see a miniature profile. By tapping on that coffee shop again, users will be transferred to a screen that shows the profile along with the capacity stats at that time. Users are able to rate coffee shops, so an average rating will be displayed on that page as well. We will consider adding the option to leave comments on the profile of coffee shops in the future once we have gotten feedback from our users.

Javago wishes to give an uncomplicated experience for our users, therefore we will not feature advertisements in the app at this time. We will keep the design modern and simple to ensure the most efficient and enjoyable usage. Since it is an information-driven app that provides a service for users, Javago will not overcomplicate its layout with unnecessary pages and links. We want to make sure we are providing this service to users in the most convenient way for them.

Business Model:

For funding for this venture, I will be combining a small business loan and angel investment. I will take out a SBA 7(a) loan of $150,000 and will accrue $250,000 from an angel investor(s) after pitching my prototype app and business model. For my small business loan, I will be responsible for a 5.5% interest rate over the course of seven years, as well as the principal payment over the course of seven years.[10] My monthly expense for interest paid on loans will be $2,161, and my monthly principal payment will be $1,768.[11] I will attain an umbrella insurance policy with $1 million coverage that requires an expense of $500 a year.[12]

Beginning with app development, the cost of production of an iOS app, as well as an Android app, will come to be about $29,700 each—rounding off to a total cost of about $59,400.[13] I will hire an experienced app developer on a salary of $100,000,[14] as well as a financial manager on a salary of $75,000.[15] The developer will handle the development of the app and all ongoing maintenance, while the financial manager will handle the budget and revenue models. App repair and maintenance will cost around $1,500 per month after the first four months of development.[16]

I will be registering as a Limited Liability Company (LLC) with an initial cost of $100 with a yearly upkeep cost of $50 due between January and April of every year.[17] Additionally, I must trademark my brand name, Javago, and logo using a lawyer to ensure proper filing and protection for a total expense of $1,275 (includes legal fees and filing fees).[18]

For our workspace, we will be renting an office in the Atlanta Tech Village for $850 per month with all utilities included, not to mention some other pretty good amenities.[19] I am budgeting $100 per month for any additional workspace or supplies cost. I am not going to be hiring a full-time lawyer, but will independently contract the work that I cannot handle. This expense will come out to about $1,500 a year.

For promotion of our app, we will utilize more modern advertising approaches that have a better chance of reaching our principle audience. Firstly, we will use Facebook ads to target around 15,000 impressions (getting in front of 15,000 Facebook users’ eyes) per month, which will cost around $90 a month.[20] We will increase this budget once we receive success rate data on its effect on our user growth. We will introduce advertising within the app after the first year to give users a limited time of uninterrupted usage.